Dear Prism,
I am designing a breeding program for a school project in my equine genetics course and want to breed Andalusians. I know their color scheme is not varied (mainly whites/greys, bays, and some blacks), but I wonder if you know anything about the dilution gene in this breed. Is it possible to get buckskin Andalusians or does it not exist for them? Also, I don't want to breed white and grey Andalusians in my program, but I do want to maximize black. How would I maximize black because I know it is a difficult color to achieve in any breed? - Sincerely, Melissa Peterson
Dear Melissa,
I know the dilute gene exists in the breed as I’ve seen a few pictures of purebred buckskin Andalusia’s and even a couple of Double Dilute Andalusia’s. You would have to do your research on the bloodlines and registry requirements to determine if these colors are allowed in the Andalusia registry. As far as breeding for black horses – you use black horses for your breeding stock. Ideally, you would find a homozygous for black stallion and black-based (black, bay, brown) mares. Just me, but if I was wanting to breed for black I would not breed to red-based or gray mares and try and eliminate the color genetics I am not interested in producing. - Prism
Dear Prism,
My 9-year-old black mare (her dame is brown and her sire is brown and she has a grandsire that is bay) is bred to a 13-year-old palomino stallion (his dam is palomino and his sire is sorrel). She has been bred to a blue roan, red roan, and bay and always had black or brown babies. The stallion has been bred with a black mare and produced buckskin. He has also produced a chestnut with a bay mare and a palomino with a sorrel mare. I was wondering what color their baby might be. – Kristi Powell
Dear Kristi,
Your coming foal could be almost any color depending on the black status of your mare. If you had her tested and she is homozygous for black you can rule out any red-based foals regardless of the stallion’s color. You could get Sorrel, Black, bay, Brown with a 50% chance of the foal inheriting the dilution gene from the Palomino stallion.
Dear Prism,
I have several questions for you.
I have a gray and white paint filly and I was wanting to breed her to my sorrel and white paint stud.What colors could I get from them? I was also wondering what I would get if I bred my filly to a black and white paint stud? The filly is out of a gray and white mare and I don’t know about the father. As for the sorrel and white stud he is out of a sorrel and white mother and the father is a sorrel quarter horse.
Another question for you is what would I get if I bred my stud to my leopard appy? - Thank you for your time, Donna Shaffer.
Dear Donna,
Depends on the base color of your filly. If she was born red-based (Sorrel/Chestnut) you will always get a red foal from breeding to a sorrel stallion. Red (ee) is a recessive gene and all red horses are homozygous for red. If she was born a black-based color you would have a 50/50 chance of the resulting foal being Black, Bay or Brown. As far as breeding to a leopard Appy would still need to know the base color of the appy to answer your question but the same rules for the paint color apply. As far as the coat pattern you could expect that’s a total tossup. The foal could inherit characteristics from both parents and be what is referred to as a “Paintaloosa”. Also be aware that this cross, Paint x Appaloosa, would result in a foal that the parent’s registries would not register. Last I checked APHA and PtHA (Pinto) do not recognize Appaloosa as an approved cross and I also believe that the ApHC (Appaloosa) registry does not recognize Paints as an approved cross. - Prism
Dear Prism,
What do I get when I breed a Palomino stud to a Grullo mare? – Lauren
Dear Lauren,
We need to go look at base colors to make that call. We know Palomino is Sorrel/Chestnut (Red-based, ee) plus the dilution gene and Grullo is Black plus the Dun gene. If we cross a Red horse to a Black horse the offspring can be Red, Black, Bay, Brown. Each parent has an approx 50% chance of passing their unique color modifier to the offspring. If the Palomino passes the dilution gene you could end up with a Palomino, Smokey Black, Buckskin and if the Grullo passes the Dun gene you could end up with Red Dun, Grullo, or Classic Dun (Bay Dun). If the resulting foal inherits both the Dilute gene and the Dun gene you could end up with a Palomino Dun, Smokey Grullo or Buckskin Dun. - Prism
Hello Prism,
I have a Palomino Overo Mare (father Palomino Overo, mother solid sorrel QH) who I've bred to a Grey Overo Stallion (born Black, father Chestnut Overo from two sorrels and mother Grey Tobiano from a Grey Tobiano and a Black Solid.) I assume my possible colors would be Black or Palomino with a 50% of graying over time. Is there also a possibility of a sorrel? – Thanks, Deb Cablao
Dear Deb,
Since the stallion is sired by a Chestnut we know he is heterozygous for Black (carries 1 black gene and 1 red gene) so Yes, you could get a sorrel from this cross. You’re also correct in that regardless of the birth/base color the foal would have a 50% chance of graying out with age. - Prism